Translator for iPhones

Photo / Supplied

Google software that turns iPhones into interpreters is now available at Apple's online app store.

"The new app accepts voice input for 15 languages, and, just like the web app, you can translate a word or phrase into one of more than 50 languages," said Google engineer Wenzhang Zhu.

"For voice input, just press the microphone icon next to the text box and say what you want to translate."

Google Translate for iPhone uses the same speech-synthesising technology as a version of the program released last month for desktop computers, according to the engineer.